Countdown to Daytona

Here's the drivers I'm going to accidentally root for, because they now drive the cars that were driven by drivers I liked:

Kurt "Spoiled Brat" Busch – No. 2 Miller Dodge
This gets the top spot because this one sucks the most.

It's hard enough to ask my mind to separate Rusty from the No. 2, but accepting Kurt Busch in it? Impossible. Even though I teased him for being mildly egotistical and more than mildly whiney last season, I love Rusty. Everybody loves Rusty.

Even the thought of accidentally rooting for Kurt makes me feel icky inside. I'm going to pretend this car no longer exists until my mind accepts it as the truth.

Dave Blaney – No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge
He replaces Scott Wimmer, who moved to the No. 4 Aero Exhaust Chevy. Now that Dave has jumped teams, they'll have to re-shoot his official driver's picture where he looks like he's suffering from Jennifer Wilbanks disease.

J.J. Yaley – No. 18 Interstate Battery Chevy
Bobby "Babonte" Labonte moves to the No. 43 Cheerios Dodge owned by Petty Enterprises (yay!), but I'm totally conditioned to root for the "green" car, so this will take more than a few races to become de-conditioned.

J.J. looks a little Paul Tracy-ish (but less attractive) so he leaves me wishing that after all that testing, Paul Tracy could have made the leap from CART to NASCAR this year.

David Stremme – No. 40 Coors Light Dodge
"Silver Bullet" = Sterling Marlin is going to be a toughie to de-associate. Damn these rookies.

Reed Sorenson – No. 41 Target Dodge
This one's not a big deal really, but I finally associated Mears with the Target car last year, and now he's moved to the No. 42 Texaco Havoline Dodge. And for some reason I never remember who drives any of the black colored cars, so sooner or later I'll forget about Mears entirely.


Ok, now for the drivers that I'm actually rooting for (other than Tony Stewart):

Michael Waltrip – No. 55 NAPA Dodge
The sponsor's the same, but everything else is different (and hopefully, better). I'm scared to even hope, because he may just have a horrible season. And I'm going to miss those NAPA commercials with Michael and Jr.

Mark Martin - No.6, AAA Ford
It's only been two seasons since I de-associated Mark Martin with Valvoline and finally embraced the Viagra sponsorship. Now he's changed to a rather boring sponsor, although Mark's probably glad that he doesn't have to spend the whole year doing commercials "educating" men about the importance of their sexual virility.

Travis Kvapil – No. 32 Tide Chevy
In my own mind, Ricky Rudd still drives the Tide car and has for years (I'm sure DW fans had – or still have - the same problem). Seriously, I didn't even know who's driven the Tide car for the past five years; I had to look it up (Scott Pruett, Ricky Craven and Bobby Hamilton Jr.)

Maybe Kwapil-Kwapil (our nickname for him) will be the one to remove the ghost of Ricky Rudd from that car… or maybe he'll just be added to the list of forgotten sailors.